Science faces 'dangerous times'--BBC News (climate change/ID/fundies)

[eppur_se_muova]

Fundamentalism is hampering global efforts to tackle climate change, according to Britain's top scientist.

In his final speech as president of the Royal Society, Lord May of Oxford will say scientists must speak out against the climate change "denial lobby".

He will warn core scientific values are "under serious threat from resurgent fundamentalism, West and East".

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"There are serious problems that derive from the realities of the external world: climate change, loss of biological diversity, new and re-emerging diseases, and more.

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Another danger to the enlightenment of science came from the growing network of fundamentalist and lobby groups in the US that campaigned for creationism to be taught in science classes, he added.

"By their own writings, this group has a much wider agenda which is to replace scientific materialism by something more based on faith," he said.

He called on scientists to take a more active role in speaking out against so-called "intelligent design" and other threats to modern scientific values.

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more at the link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4482174.stm